Max Payne is a gritty third-person shooter that tells the story of a crazed undercover cop who's pitted against the criminal underworld - and the police department he once worked for.

Max Payne will be a fast-paced and extremely violent third-person shooter that will tell the story of an undercover cop in a bad situation. The title character and hero, Max Payne, is a cop whose family was murdered by a gang of drugged-up lunatics. To avenge his family, Max goes deep undercover into the crime syndicate that developed the new and dangerous drug, but in the midst of the worst blizzard in the history of New York City, his cover gets blown. What's worse, his police contact (and the only cop who knows Max isn't a crook) is mysteriously murdered, and the crime is pinned on Max. Max has been the victim of injustice upon injustice, and now that the criminals are on to him and the cops think he's a murderer, he's got both of them on his tail. Max is up against what seem like impossible odds. But he's not going down without a fight.

Max Payne won't just have a trite action-movie plot. It'll also feature extremely fast, smooth gameplay thanks to the 3D-only game engine. Max Payne will feature an advanced rendering engine and full radiosity lighting that will make the game's dark levels seem appropriately menacing and keep them running at a steady frame rate.

Max Payne has been in development for some time, but the developers still refuse to give a solid release date, and instead insist that the game will be done "when it's done." You may have to wait a bit longer to play Max, but for now, you can check out our coverage of the game and view the screenshots.